


Last Great Acts

by debirlfan



Category: Convoy (Song)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-19
Updated: 2010-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-13 18:46:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/140493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debirlfan/pseuds/debirlfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When you go looking for the Rubber Duck, you never know what you'll find.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Great Acts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deifire](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deifire/gifts).



June 27

 

My editor, Jimmy Marsh, just gave me my new assignment. Track down and interview the principals in last week's incident on the George Washington bridge. (Or as he put it, “Find out what the hell those crazy frigging idiot truckers were thinking!”) He promised me a front page headline for my story, and a full expense account. Knowing Jimmy's usual impatience (and frugality) I asked him how long I had to get it done. Surprisingly, he said, “As long as it takes.”

 

June 29

 

Had CB radio installed in Datsun yesterday. Spoke with toll booth operator who declined to give her name or be quoted. She said that after the first couple trucks came blasting through without slowing, she just closed her eyes and put her hands over her ears. Sounded like the poor girl was terrified.

 

June 30

 

Interviewed Lt. Johnathan Pierce of the NY State Police. Official quotes are on my recorder, but off the record, he told me that the NY police had been in contact with agencies further west, and had been warned what to expect. Despite that warning, they were woefully unequipped to deal with what turned out to be “at least four hundred renegade big rigs.” While he was careful not to directly blame his superiors, it was quite obvious that he felt that sending two dozen police cruisers to block the bridge was little more than a joke. Pierce's estimation of damages to the cruisers is in the $75,000 to $100,000 range, although luckily no one was injured. He also admitted to me that the police helicopter actually ran low on fuel and had to land shortly before the convoy actually arrived at the bridge.

 

July 1

 

Acting on a tip, I'm headed to Boston (Bean Town, in CB lingo), where I've been told I may be able to catch up with some of the convoy participants.

 

July 2

 

Well, I thought I was going to meet some of the truck drivers in Boston. Instead, I found four stoned hippies with a bright green VW bus who were staying at a commune in Roxbury. Not exactly what I expected, and not particularly helpful, especially since their main interests seemed to be whether I wanted to be "saved" and whether or not I had a doobie I could share with them. When they learned the answer to both questions was “no” they had no further interest in talking with me.

 

July 3

 

Have set up a meeting with Colonel Bowdie of the Illinois National Guard. On the drive out, I'm taking the opportunity to practice my CB radio lingo.

 

July 4

 

Guy I was talking to at a rest stop told me female truck drivers were commonly called “mother truckers.” Well, apparently they're not, at least not where they can hear it. Irate broad tried to put me in the ditch! I must have been doing at least ninety before I finally pulled away from her. Won't do that again.

 

July 5

 

Met up with Bowdie at the Armory. Seems the reports of the Guard being called out were something of an exaggeration. As it happened, the unit was on its way back home after having been on maneuvers. They were simply asked to pull over and show a presence along with the Illinois police, not that it did any good. I asked Bowdie if there had been any thought to taking military action against the convoy and he laughed at me. It appears that other than very special, planned training exercises or being sent to an actual war zone, our Guard units are not trusted with live ammunition. About the only thing they could have done was throw rocks.

 

July 7

 

Finally met with one of the actual truckers involved with the convoy. His handle is “Pig Pen” and he hauls pigs and other livestock to a variety of stockyards and slaughterhouses. The interview started out at a Denny's near Des Moines, but we were forced to move it outside after a number of the customers complained. (Suffice to say that Pig Pen gets into his work.) Unfortunately, Pig Pen couldn't provide much valuable information, as at the direction of Rubber Duck, he had dropped well behind the main convoy. By the time he arrived on the scene, “The excitement was over, and all I saw was the last wrecked black and white being hauled away on the draggin wagon.” He did, however, give me a few suggestions on where to catch up with some of the other drivers.

 

July 8

 

On my way to Lost Wages. Talked to Jimmy on the phone. He'd just gotten my expense report in the mail, and he was having a fit. Hey, it's not my fault all the miles I'm putting on chasing this story, and at fifty-nine cents a gallon, gas gets expensive.

 

July 10

 

Talked to “Sodbuster.” Definitely a man of few words. I asked him about the handle. Seems he hauls John Deere farm equipment. That's about all I got out of him. When asked about the convoy and the incident, he only responded, “Just goin with the flow.” I hope to have better luck tomorrow.

 

July 11

 

Well, I thought I was finally going to get a good interview. Arnold McDaniel is a “suicide jockey” who drives various types of hazardous loads, anything from nuclear waste to toxic chemicals. On the occasion in question, his cargo consisted of a load of dynamite. Arnold was more than willing to talk, in fact, he seemed downright eager for a chance to leave his load in the parking lot and join me in the Choke and Puke for lunch.

 

I couldn't help but notice the way his coffee rippled, his hands trembling despite the way he had both of them wrapped tightly around the cup. He told me he'd been in the hazardous cargo business for over twenty years. (In my estimation, that had to be at least five years too many.)

 

Just as we started to discuss the convoy, a waitress somewhere behind us dropped a tray of dirty dishes causing a loud crash. I turned to see what had happened, and when I turned back, I thought that Arnold had left. I soon realized, however, that he was under our table, hands wrapped tightly around the center support, blubbering incoherently. Unable to get him calmed down, the restaurant staff eventually called an ambulance. Currently, he's in the hospital, heavily sedated, but the doctors tell me he'll be fine in a few days.

 

July 12

 

Well, it appears that the episode with Arnold worked out for the best, for me at least. I stopped in at the hospital to see if he could have visitors (not yet), and ran into the one individual I most wanted to meet. Ron Dorman, otherwise known as the “Rubber Duck.”

 

We sat in the hospital cafeteria and chatted. Finally I asked the question I really wanted an answer to. The question was “Why?”

 

His first response was that there was no real reason, that it had just been something that grown out of control. When I pressed further, he admitted that that wasn't entirely true. Initially, it had just happened, but then, as the convoy grew, Ron saw the chance to make a statement. It was an act of rebellion against the fifty-five mile an hour speed limit, and the increasing amount of red tape and paperwork truckers are forced to deal with. In his words, “Crashing that toll plaza was meant as one last great act of defiance.”

 

July 14

 

After some reflection, I called Jimmy. He started to whine about expenses again, and I told him to keep his damn expenses, and my paycheck, too. I quit my job. Call it my own act of defiance.

 

I pulled my car into the parking lot of the truck stop, threw my story notes and tape recorder into their dumpster, and raised the Rubber Duck on the CB. Ron should be picking me up any minute now. I've left the keys in the Datsun. I'm not coming back.

**Author's Note:**

> Convoy and the Rubber Duck aren't mine. Original characters are inventions of my own mind, any resemblance to actual people or events is totally accidental (and more than a little scary!) Deifire, I hope this is what you were looking for. Enjoy!


End file.
